Gov. John Baldacci’s gay rights legislation awaited only his signature Wednesday evening to complete the anti-discrimination bill’s rapid journey through the Legislature this week.

“This one signature will wipe out at least a decade of intolerance,” Baldacci aide Lee Umphrey said as the bill made its final, procedural stops in the House and Senate, both of which had strongly endorsed the measure in earlier votes.

The final House vote on Wednesday evening was 91-58 in favor of the bill. The Senate took its final vote at about 8 p.m., approving the measure 25-10.

Baldacci’s signature, expected this morning, will also mark the beginning of a new political fight over gay rights in Maine, with religious conservatives announcing the start of a referendum campaign to overturn the law.

“Only one action now stands in the way of this juggernaut in Maine – the ‘people’s veto’ … again,” read the Wednesday edition of the Christian Civic League of Maine’s online newspaper.

The league will proceed with a referendum if 2,000 people commit to collecting 35 signatures each, Michael Heath, the group’s executive director, said Wednesday. Heath said the group will wait until next week to judge the level of support for the campaign.

If the league decides to go forward, it will have to do so quickly. With the Legislature expected to adjourn tonight, gay rights opponents will have only 90 days – or until June 30 – to collect the 50,000-plus signatures needed to force a November 2005 referendum. Otherwise, the bill will become law that day.

Maine voters have been unpredictable on the gay rights issue, twice – in 1998 and 2000 – narrowly rejecting initiatives similar to the governor’s. In 1995, however, voters soundly defeated an anti-gay rights initiative.

The governor’s bill would add sexual orientation to the list of protected classes in the Maine Human Rights Act.

The act prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, education, credit, and public accommodations based on gender, age, religion, race, and physical and mental disability.

Opponents have portrayed the bill as the next step toward same-sex marriage. In an attempt to diffuse that argument, Maine senators on Wednesday voted 24-10 in favor of a House amendment that would prohibit the act from being used to amend Maine’s marriage laws.

“We wanted to make sure this couldn’t be construed as a stepping stone to anything else,” said the amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Jeremy Fischer, D-Presque Isle, who supported the anti-discrimination bill.

Heath, however, took little comfort in the new language.

“Nice try, Jeremy, but Mainers aren’t buying it,” he said. “[Fischer] and some others who voted for this will be the first to push for same-sex marriage … once the politics will support it.

“We’re not going to let that happen in Maine,” Heath said.

Fischer said he does not support same-sex marriage.

During the past week, much of the debate over LD 1196 focused on who should have the final say: Lawmakers or voters?

On Tuesday, the House and Senate both rejected attempts to send the measure out to referendum, sparking dissent from many House Republicans and prompting the “people’s veto” campaign.

But Betsy Smith, executive director of the pro-gay rights group Equality Maine, on Wednesday praised lawmakers for not abdicating their responsibilities by deferring to voters on such an important issue.

“Discrimination happens in Maine, and [the Legislature] acknowledged that it happens,” Smith said. “They are leaders.”

If the law takes effect, Maine will join 15 states – including the rest of New England – in protecting homosexuals from discrimination. About a dozen communities, including Bangor, already have such laws.

For information on the Christian Civic League of Maine’s “people’s veto” campaign, visit www.coalitionformarriage.net. For information on the pro gay rights group Equality Maine, visit www.mlgpa.org.